Light from the Shadows of Life
by Akuma Kon
Summary: Starts at the alternate genin exam, but with a twist: The make up exam is legitimate. Stricter teachers! Wondrous new techniques! Watch as things spiral out of control and have unforeseen consequences. You want real details? Read the story! Rated M for safety. No pairings decided as of yet. Not yaoi! Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its subsidiaries. **

AN: Hey guys, I do hope you're not dreadfully disappointed with my lack of continuation of my stories. I've been a little busy for the last year or so. Also, my muse had decided to leave me. She's back for now, but we'll see if it's meant to be, or if it's just as her drunken fling... Haha. Anyway, here's a little something new for you. Hope you like it. If I get inspiration, I might continue a couple of my other stories, so without further ado, let's begin!

XxXxX

"Guren, now!" he shouted as he slid into position.

"Hai!" the purple haired kunoichi responded quickly, hands flying through hand signs. "Shoton: Shoten Kessho!"

In front of the blonde appeared a massive crystal magnifying lens. The edges were a bit rough, but they did not matter too much to the young man. All he needed was the focusing element of the glass like substance. What he shouted was lost in the din of combat all around him as what surviving friends he had kept their foe's minions at bay.

A large burst of blinding light crashed into the crystal lens. The structure bent the light into a single thin line. The beam easily penetrated the sphere of pure darkness that shielded their enemy. Capitalizing on the opening, the blonde rushed forth, jumping into the gap before it closed.

Uttering a cry of a single name, the young man plunged into the orb, the darkness repairing the hole behind him. The dark clothed figure that was the core of the sphere turned to face the blonde. He reached up to remove his white and red mask with one hand.

"Hello brother," said the young man that could have the spitting image of the blonde if not for the mismatched eyes and black hair. He let loose a feral grin and lunged at his counterpart.

XxXxx

Naruto sat bolt upright, a thin film of sweat giving him an odd sheen in the moonlight. His breathing was a little ragged from the intense dream he had. The twelve year old boy shook his head clear and looked at his alarm clock. It read eleven forty-two, exactly 3 minutes before it was due to go off for his secret make up test.

After failing the genin exams, the young Uzumaki had been approached by his teach, Touji Mizuki, with the promise of a make up exam. There would be a scroll hidden in the Hokage's office, and the blonde had to find it in the alloted time. Rather than the normal genin exam, which tested theory knowledge and low level ability, the make up exam was more of a practical exam.

The blonde wiped the sweat from his brow and hopped in the shower. He wanted to be as untraceable as possible, so he made sure to use the unscented soap before getting into his serious suit. Rather than his normal "kill me orange" jumpsuit, this one was a brown and green patchwork outfit that broke up his silhouette.

Taking off as silently as possible, Naruto sneaked through the village as quickly and quietly as he could manage. Considering that his stealth, infiltration, and evasion skills were on par with, if not surpassing, those of ANBU, he damn near invisible.

Taking a moment to check his chakra, he was able to determine that it was now half past midnight. All shinobi had the ability to determine the time by the flow of their chakra. This did not assist in trying to figure out the date, however.

The blonde boy gave his usual foxy grin as he could see his route into the Hokage Tower already. The building was undergoing renovations, and the scaffolding on the back side allowed him easy access directly into the main office. With a few leaps, and a little bit of climbing, Naruto was in the office and looking around.

He saw the safe immediately, and sweat dropped. _'There's no way it's THAT obvious,' _he thought to himself, and dug around some more.

XxXxX

Sarutobi Hiruzen waited outside the office with a level of stealth that even Naruto would be envious of. But then, he was the Shinobi no Kami, the Professor, Hokage, and former ANBU, so it was only natural. He smirked to himself, with the thought that Mizuki's alternate test may be on to something big here.

After he felt the chakra signature of the blonde vanish through the window, he waited another full minute before entering the office through the door. He did a double check of the safe and saw the testing scroll was still there before nodding to himself and shutting the door. Then he quickly reopened the safe and saw that the scroll was indeed there.

"If he didn't take the scroll, then what did he take?" Hiruzen muttered to himself, looking around the office, before something caught his eye. The bookcase that hid the secret vault was ajar. The aged shinobi's eyes went wide and his pipe fell from his lips. "ANBU!"

XxXxX

Naruto was having trouble. He had expected minor resistance, and a halfhearted chase. Instead, all of the village's shinobi the rank of chunin or higher were out in pursuit. Luckily for him he hadn't left a easily followed trail, or he would've been caught almost immediately.

After an hour's worth of dodging and skulking, he had made it through the gates. The two chunin on gate guard were so busy watching the lane that they never thought to make sure no one climbed on top of the little stand. The blonde easily clambered on top and vaulted out, just barely making behind the bushes before the chunin's gaze swept the immediate area.

As soon as he was in the clear, he hustled to the shack he was told about. He only had two and three quarters of an hour left to memorize three items off the scroll, and even at a decent pace it was still going to take the blonde half an hour to get to the clearing.

XxXxX

Umino Iruka was unable to sleep, so he just laid in bed with his arm behind his head. The pale scar running horizontally across his face standing out against his tan skin was throwing the moonlight into his eyes. Sighing he sat up to close his blinds when there was knock at the door.

He opened it to see Mizuki, out of breath and slumped over with one hand on his knee the other on the door frame. "It's bad Iruka," the silver haired chunin gasped out. "Naruto took the forbidden scroll from the Hokage's office!"

Iruka thought of a logical response. Running out the door, he said the only thing that came to mind, as loudly and vehemently as he could. "Shit!"

XxXxX

Hiruzen stared intently into the crystal ball that was produced by a jutsu only usable to the one who wore the Hokage robes and hat. In the ball he watched Naruto as the boy sat on the ground hidden near the cabin, but out of sight to weasel a bit more time out for his task if he could. Knowing the boy like he did, the old man knew Naruto would eke out every last second he could.

His frown deepened as he watched the blonde skim lightly through the scoll, using a finger to assist in the reading of the kanji on the page. He picked out two topics and quickly transcribed them onto another, smaller, scroll. As his finger brushed the third choice, the symbols glared brightly before flowing up the blonde's arm, and down the other onto the page, leaving a neat legible copy.

The blonde gawked at the small scroll while Hiruzen blinked at the crystal ball. He couldn't get enough focus through the ball to see what techniques the blonde chose, but he could easily guess at the third one. In the crystal ball, the blonde shrugged after a minute and started reading first section he copied down. Once he started to practice what he learned, Hiruzen couldn't decide whether to face palm, or be scared. He settled for the happy medium.

XxXxX

His time was up. He had only learned the first choice he had copied, and he hoped it would be enough. He walked out into the clearing and was surprised. Standing there was not Mizuki, nor Iruka or the Hokage, but rather a random civilian. He wore the clothes of a common worker, but when he caught sight of Naruto his eyes were filled with a sadistic glee.

"Imagine that," the man said evenly, the barest hint of smile creeping upon his face. "I get to be the one to find the demon brat."

"Why do you all keep calling me that?" Naruto asked. "It's always when you think I can't hear, but I always do. Why?"

The man grinned. "Thirteen years ago, on October tenth, the Yondaime Hokage fought the Kyuubi. But a bijuu can't be killed, only sealed. I don't know why he chose you, but now I can finish what he started." For a moment the man's eyes reflected a small amount of pity toward the boy that was now wide eyed and shaking. "For what it's worth, we don't hate you, just the fox. But killing you is the only way to truly kill it."

With that, he lunged toward Naruto with a kunai. The blonde didn't have time to react, save for the flinch that caused him to tumble backwards over a rock. One arm raised defensively, he braced himself for the worst, expecting the blow that never came.

The man fell over dead, a fixed blade fuuma shuriken imbedded in his back, the point piercing through his heart. The blonde stared motionlessly as two pairs of arms enveloped him in a tight embrace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its subsidiaries. **

AN: Because I'm bored, and struck with a case of insomnia for now, here's a chapter two! Yay! Also, I apologize for misspelling words in the last chapter. I forgot to to do a spell check before posting. Hehe...

XxXxX

Naruto was stunned... no, he was floored. Just minutes ago he had found out that he was the jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi. And that was not even making mention of the attempt on his life. Apparently the man was just one of many failed academy students who had lost family to the Kyuubi. As a child, the worst Naruto had to deal with was cold stares and the occasional whispered name calling behind his back.

The next thing he knew, he was alive and his attacker dead. His surrogate brothers were both there, holding him close, comfortingly. It was too much for the thirteen year old boy to take, and he started weeping, arms latching around both of his pseudo family members.

"I'm sorry, Naruto." Mizuki said sadly. "You weren't meant to find out, not yet. It was too soon."

Iruka nodded. "We're here for you, and don't you forget it."

Putting up a strong front, Naruto wiped his eyes with a last sniffle. "I only learned one thing from the scroll sensei. I don't think I can pass with that."

"Well, you see Naruto, the thing is..." Mizuki trailed off sheepishly.

"You took the wrong scroll in the first place," Iruka stated matter-of-factly. "You ended up taking the Forbidden Scroll of Konoha."

"Oh no!" Naruto exclaimed wide eyed. "I'm going to be in so much trouble!"

Mizuki smiled. "Normally, you would be in really deep shit. But after the events of the night I think we can pass you. You did manage to evade practically the entire village to get out here."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"But we'll need to see what you did learn," Iruka chided.

"Right, of course!" Naruto chattered. He brought his hands together in an unfamiliar hand seal. "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

All about the clearing were numerous puffs of smoke, each clearing to reveal a new Naruto. The two chunin instructors gaped at the sheer number of clones. There were at least two hundred, maybe more.

"N-Naruto," Iruka stammered.

"Yes Iruka-sensei?" the blonde responded.

"Under no circumstance are you to EVER use that technique in coordination with your Orioke no Jutsu," the brown haired chunin stated. "At least not while I'm in the area."

The blonde looked at the other instructor who had a mischievous glint in his eye. As Mizuki passed Naruto a black banded hitai-ate, he mouthed 'Do it.'

The prankster in Naruto responded to the prodding with savage glee. Instinctively his hands moved into the proper hand seal, and the words burst from his mouth before he could register actually thinking of doing it, an action his clones mimicked just as quickly. "Henge: Orioke no Jutsu!"

Once again the clearing was enveloped in smoke. Using the little time he had to prepare, the silver haired chunin slid his hitai-ate down over his eyes to prevent an accidental glance. Iruka was not so lucky. The brown haired man slammed into a tree behind him from sheer blood loss, falling into blissful unconsciousness.

Reverting back to normal, Naruto tied his new forehead protector on before dismissing his clones with a cry of "Kai!" He reeled back, staggered from the influx of information he received. "Wasn't expecting that."

Mizuki just laughed and hoisted his fellow teacher over his shoulder. "Let's go Naruto. I want to make it to the village before the stores open!"

The newly promoted genin followed his teacher eagerly.

XxXxX

The wizened Hokage was waiting at the gate for the trio to arrive. They reached him just as the sun's first rays peeked over the eastern trees. Naruto nervously handed over the oversized scroll that he wasn't supposed to have taken.

"I thank you for returning this Naruto," the old man said, fiddling with his pipe. "But why on earth did you even take this one and not the one from the safe?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I just thought that the safe was too obvious and that someone wouldn't actually put something that could be someone's objective in there."

"At least he thinks like a real ninja, Hokage-sama," Mizuki said, removing Iruka from his shoulder and leaning him against the gate.

Hiruzen nodded. "Indeed. And that technique he utilized against poor Iruka... such devastating effect. Had I been there to witness it in person, I might have succumbed as well. I am of a mind to place it in this scroll as well."

"It was totally Iruka-sensei's idea!" the blonde genin stated defensively. "And Mizuki-sensei! He's the one who convinced me to do it!"

"I know," the Hokage said, while Mizuki blanched. "I saw the whole thing."

"How did you do that?" Naruto asked excitedly. "Can you teach me how to do it? I'm going to be an awesome Hokage, Dattebayo!"

"It is a secret jutsu only the Kage can use," Hiruzen said, chuckling at Naruto's sudden change in mood. "You'll learn it when you take this hat from me. And I'm sure you will surpass me in no time, if you work hard at it."

"Aw man," the lowest ranking of the assembled shinobi pouted, causing laughs from the other two conscious ninja.

"Tell you what Naruto," Mizuki said cheerfully. "I'll teach you how to use the shunshin."

"What's that?" Naruto asked, perking up a little bit.

"It's jutsu that makes you move so fast in a small area it's almost like you teleported," the Hokage said. "We usually reserve it for chunin and above."

"Really? I'm going to be awesome!" Naruto exclaimed with a large grin as he danced around.

"Not until after you get out of the hospital," an angry voice growled, causing the blonde to freeze in his tracks.

Slowly, the genin turned his head to see Iruka starting to stand up. "Oh, you're all better Iruka-sensei!"

"Naruto, when I get my hands on you, you're going to wish you'd never been born," Iruka said in a menacing tone. "But since I'm so nice, I'll give you a chance to escape."

"In that case..." Naruto trailed off before taking off at a dead spring into the city sized village. "SeeyoulaterMizuki-sensei,Jiji! You'llhavetoteachmelater!"

The Hokage chuckled to himself. "I better get back to the office. Back to the," his mouth went dry as he bitterly spat out the last word, "paperwork."

"Don't go too hard on him Iruka," Mizuki said. "Team assignments are tomorrow."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its subsidiaries. **

AN:Greetings my wonderful readers! I hope you are all well, and if not, then I wish you a speedy recovery. I can't reveal much of the plot, because that would reveal the story ahead of time. But if you have any questions concerning something that has already happened in the story, write it in a review and I'll answer it in the next chapter. Now, on with the next chapter! Tally ho! ….. OK, that's enough TFS Hellsing abridged ultimate on YouTube.

XxXxX

Naruto sat in the classroom for team assignments with an odd expression on his face. He was fidgeting from excitement, but he was also ridiculously bored. He had arrived a full hour early, and there was nothing to do. Especially since he promised the Hokage he would try to tone back on the pranks. The old man had caught the word try, but didn't call the young teenager out on it. He had also discussed the small copy scroll Naruto had made, allowing the blonde to keep it after skimming over it.

The blonde sighed, and his head thunked down onto the desk just as the door slid open, allowing in two more teenagers and causing the blonde's head to perk up. One was slightly more portly due to his clans techniques that required energy stored up from food. The other was rather scrawny, with his hair pulled into a spiky inverted ponytail that looked reminiscent of a pineapple.

"Choujji, Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed. "Thank Kami! I was getting so bored!"

"Hey Naruto," Chouji said in between bites from his bag of potato chips. "I thought you failed, so why are you here?"

The blonde grinned widely. "I passed a makeup exam. I'm a genin now, same as you."

"Except that you're the class dobe," Shikamaru couldn't resist giving a little barb.

"You're only just above me!" Naruto shouted. "I know you could do way better! Or," his eyes took on a mischievous glint, "do I have to tell your mother you almost failed on purpose? Hehehe..."

"Troublesome blonde," the pineapple haired boy muttered, taking his seat and putting his head down on the desk before passing out.

Naruto and Chouji looked at each other before shrugging and settling down to play a game of Tic Tac Toe.

XxXxX

"Everyone settle down," Iruka said. After a moment, it became clear that no one was listening to him. He flashed through a couple of hand signs and suddenly all of the students were tied up in ropes. And suspended from the ceiling upside down. "That's better. Now that I have your attention, I will announce the team assignments. Starting with Team Seven, the first available team this year."

All of the students perked up a bit eager to learn who their partners would be.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke," Iruka called. "Your sensei will jounin Hatake Kakashi."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully to himself. It could have been worse. His partners could have been an emo and a fangirl.

"Team Eight will be Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino," the brown haired chunin continued. "Your instructor will be Mitarashi Anko."

Most of the students in the class blanched. Just about everyone knew about Anko, and her quirky tendencies that usually put someone in the hospital.

"Team Nine is still in circulation from last year, so the next team will be Team Ten, consisting of Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chouji. Your sensei will be Nara Yoshino."

Shikamaru's head shot up from his desk, skin pale and drawn with eyes wide from fear and abstract horror. "No. Please no. Anyone but her, please," he muttered to himself. Since he was sitting in the back, no one noticed his expression.

Iruka continued on with the last few genin teams that no one could be bothered to remember. "With that, your jounin instructors will be here after lunch to pick you all up, leaving you with three hours to get acquainted with your team members. Dismissed!"

XxXxX

"Yo Sasuke, Sakura!" Naruto greeted with a large smile. The two turned to see their third teammate catching up to them on their way to the roof.

"What's up Naruto?" The pink haired girl responded.

"Hn," was the intelligible retort from the raven haired Uchiha.

"That's not nice Sasuke," Sakura chided. "Do I have to have a talk with your caretaker about proper etiquette again?"

"My apologies," Sasuke begrudgingly gave in. "Hello dobe."

"At least you're part way civil," the blonde said. "There's hope for you yet!" Sakura giggled while Sasuke's eye twitched. "Anyway, we didn't spend a whole lot of time hanging out in the academy, so let's get to know each other a bit more."

"Alright, I'll start things off," the pink haired kunoichi smiled. "I'm Haruno Sakura, I come from a shinobi family. I like spending time with my friends and training. I have really good chakra control, so I'm proficient in genjutsu and medical jutsu. I dislike bullies and those who abandon their friends. My dream for the future is to be a medical ninja greater than Tsunade-sama of the Densetsu no Sannin."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto picked up where Sakura left off. "I like ramen, training, and meeting new people. My dislikes are bullies, the three minutes it takes for ramen to finish cooking, and traitors to the village. My dream for the future is to be Hokage, and to make ramen the official food of Konoha! Dattebayo!"

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," the black haired boy said. "I like tomatoes, and what few people don't annoy me all the time. I mean seriously, there are fangirls everywhere!" His teammates nodded, patting his shoulders consolingly. To accent his point, a brunette girl with a plain face flew out of nowhere at the Uchiha, only to be deflected by his teammates. To their horror, she fell off the roof.

"Did we kill her?" Naruto asked frantically.

"Oh Kami!" Sakura shook head nervously.

"Were it so easy," Sasuke said. "She'll be fine, and back to stalking me tomorrow. Anyway, continuing on. My dislikes are my fangirls, and my older brother who killed my clan. My dream for the future is to rebuild my clan and to take revenge on Itachi."

"We're here to help you," Naruto said with a big grin, causing Sakura to smile and nod in affirmative.

Sasuke blinked. "Thank you... Naruto, Sakura."

Naruto looked around suspiciously for a moment. "Lunch isn't over for another two hours. I'm going to need your help for something."

The blondes teammates looked at him curiously before he started explaining.

XxXxX

To his credit, Naruto said he would try to curb his pranking habits. Sadly, he only said try. So when Kakashi showed up, strangely on time for once, he was in for the worst nightmare he had ever experienced.

Standing in the classroom was not his genin team, but rather three women. The first was Yuhi Kurenai, the newly promoted jounin. The second one was one his former ANBU teammates, Uzuki Yuugao. The last was a veterinarian that he frequently took his Inu summons to see, Inuzuka Hana, the older sister to Inuzuka Kiba.

It was a little known fact to certain circles that Kakashi liked to get around. And when he got to going, very few women could resist him, especially when he removed his mask. But he always took precautions. That was why the group in front of him scared him senseless. He had not seen any of them for almost a year, and now here they all were in front of him, bellies showing various, but visible stages of pregnancy.

The jounin with gravity defying silver hair screamed at the top of his lungs as his mind finally broke, and took off with terrifying speed. The trio in the room could hear him crashing and tripping into things as he fled for dear life.

"I think we broke our sensei," Sakura said as she dropped her illusion of Kurenai.

"Does this mean we can get promoted directly to jounin?" Naruto asked hopefully, dropping the Inuzuka henge.

"I don't think it works like that, dobe," Sasuke said, releasing his illusion.

"Aw man," Naruto snapped. "That really sucks."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or its subsidiaries.**

AN: I haven't had this much fun in a while. I decided to write as much as I can before my inspiration drys up. Or until I forget the original idea. Whichever comes first.

XxXxX

It was almost an hour and a half later when their sensei fearfully peaked into the classroom again. After another 10 minutes spent explaining and apologizing, the group got on with introducing themselves to Kakashi. Nowhere near as detailed as they were to each other, especially after the brief introduction their jounin instructor gave that had no details whatsoever.

"Well," Kakashi did his strange smile using only his eye and the few folds that were visible on his mask, "I guess this wraps up things for today. Meet me tomorrow at training ground seven at five A.M. for the test that will determine if I keep you on as my team or send you back to the academy. Don't eat breakfast if you don't want to throw up. Ja ne!"

The jounin vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the genin to stare at each other. "Does he think we're stupid?" Sakura asked. "I mean, 'Don't eat if you don't want to throw up'? We're going to need the energy if it's anything that physically demanding."

"You make a valid point," Sasuke agreed. "Why don't you two swing by my place for breakfast at four? Then we can try to come up with a plan."

"I don't believe it," Naruto said in disbelief.

The Uchiha cocked his head to the side. "What's wrong dobe?"

"This entire time," Naruto said, "we weren't talking to Kakashi-sensei."

Sakura looked confused. "What do you mean? He was right there this whole time."

"But it wasn't really him," Naruto said. "It was, but it wasn't."

"Care to explain?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto sighed and made a hand sign, crossing his first two fingers of one hand behind the first two fingers of the other. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With a puff of smoke, another Naruto appeared behind the original. It waved briefly before vanishing.

"I don't get it," Sasuke said, causing Sakura to nod with him.

Naruto repeated the process, creating another clone. The clone then picked up a small rock and tossed it at Sasuke.

The raven haired boy's eyes widened. "That's a solid clone!"

"What?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

Naruto watched in amusement as his teammates practically molested his clone, trying to find what the limit was. He decided it was weird when two pairs of hands strayed uncomfortably close to his clone's crotch. Dispelling the clone, he finished his explanation.

"Due to the clone's construct being entirely made of my chakra, I get the all the memories it got between when it was made and when it dispelled," he stated. "Also, no more molesting me!"

His teammates had the decency to look abashed. They spent the next couple of hours just talking about their pasts and more things they were interested in. They found out that they had a great deal in common.

"Hey, instead of coming over tomorrow, why don't we all spend the night at Sasuke's that way we can have more time to plan?" Sakura suggested.

"I don't see a problem with that," Sasuke said. "I haven't had a sleep over since..."

He was caught by surprise when he was caught up in a group hug by his compassionate teammates. The last loyal Uchiha couldn't suppress a rather odd giggle when someone's hand brushed his side the wrong way. His recent feeling of comfort turned to one of dread as Naruto and Sakura shared an evil look.

"Why, Sasuke-kun," Sakura said in an odd tone, " why didn't you tell us you were ticklish?"

"Yeah, teme," the blonde played along. "Don't you trust your teammates?"

At that very moment Sasuke could safely say that no, he did not trust his teammates. Sadly for him, he was still in the middle of the group hug. He prayed for mercy before his torture began. Anyone passing by would have heard laughter, but would not have known just how involuntary it truly was.

XxXxX

Hatake Kakashi, elite jounin, former ANBU captain, arrived at training ground seven at roughly seven twenty-five AM. He had tried to make it on time, but his morning ritual of talking to the precious people who had passed and had their names carved into the memorial stone had once again taken up far too much time. Never mind the fact that said memorial stone was on training ground seven. That was entirely irrelevant.

When he arrived, he was pleasantly surprised to see his genin already working together to walk up a tree, a basic yet vital skill for a shinobi. He didn't even think to ask where the genin had learned of the technique.

"Good morning, my cute little genin," Kakashi greeted with an eye smile.

"Oh, Kakahsi-sensei!" Naruto replied. "I didn't see you there. We thought you had forgotten all about us."

Sasuke turned to give a short wave before he and his blonde compatriot resumed walking up the tree. Sakura gave a menacing smile. "We decided we were going to train ourselves for a little bit before reporting the absence of our jounin sensei. I'm so glad that we didn't have to do that after all."

If the jounin was at all shaken, he didn't show it. "Maa maa, I got lost on the road of life," he explained simply.

"Does the Hokage actually let you get away with that excuse?" Sasuke asked incredulously.

Kakashi thought about it for a second. "Hmmm, yes actually." He was visibly startled when all three of his genin were prostrated before him, as if worshiping the man.

In unison the genin spoke. "Teach us, O great and wise leader! Teach us your ways, that we may one day be able to walk with you with pride."

The cyclops scratched his cheek as he looked away bashfully. He completely missed the shared look of his genin. Within moments, he was bound and gagged, with his hands apart to prevent him from making hand signs. How they were able to gag him without removing his mask was beyond him, and probably them as well, but they did.

"You tried to make a mockery of us," Sasuke said solemnly.

Naruto recited the next line, "Our retribution is swift, and your punishment will be severe."

"There will be no mercy," Sakura intoned.

Then all three continued in unison. "May Kami-sama, and her ever faithful servant, the Log, have pity on your soul, though they not save you from your fate."

Deciding he had had enough, the masked nin started to gather his chakra for a sealless kawarimi. He was again forestalled as one of his 'cute little genin' placed a rag to his face. His eyes widened as he recognized the scent, just before it took effect. _'Where did they get chloroform?' _

XxXxX

"And when we pleaded with him, he merely responded with, and mind my french, 'Fuck the police.' And then he proceeded to tilt every painting on the way here," Naruto explained to the old man in Hokage robes. "Finally when his guard was down, my teammates and I subdued him and finished bringing him in." Sakura and Sasuke merely nodded in agreement.

"And that's the story you're sticking to?" Hiruzen asked.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Sasuke said.

With a sigh, Hiruzen waved his hand and the bindings around Kakashi fell off, and the gag vanished entirely. "Now, what is the truth of the matter Kakashi?"

Seeing his chance for revenge, Kakashi gave out the complete true story, as accurately as he remembered it. "I had arrived at training ground seven at the time I had asked my genin to arrive. They had started to train themselves before I revealed myself to them. When I finally did, they caught me off guard and managed to take me down through trickery, though as a veteran shinobi I should have known better. Then I awoke here. I do profess to be slightly concerned about their mental state, however."

"What was your plan for Team Seven?" the Professor asked.

Kakashi again answered frankly. "I was going to administer the bell test to attempt to divide them amongst each other to test their teamwork."

"That's bullshit!" Naruto exclaimed, before being fixed by the stern eyes of his sensei and his village leader.

The Hokage inclined his head. "So what is your overall impression of your genin team?"

"Frankly speaking, they're monsters. I did not even get to see their true combat skills, and they were able to catch me off guard," Kakashi said. The genin blushed as if being called monsters was a compliment. For them, coming from Kakashi, it probably was. "However, their teamwork was impeccable. I can safely say that Team Seven passes."

"Woohoo!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping into the air.

Hiruzen smiled. "Out of the forty-seven teams you have been given, this is the first to pass. I expect great things from them Kakashi. Do not disappoint me."

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Kakashi said, rendering a sharp salute.

Sakura turned an odd pale color. "Forty-seven teams, and we're the first to pass? We could have been failed that easily?"

"Being a ninja is not easy, Sakura," Kakashi said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "It is only for those who have a commitment to excellence."

"Like all the mediocre chunin who don't try to progress to jounin?" Naruto asked innocently. Well, as innocently as a renowned prankster like himself could.

Completely ignoring the hyperactive member of his team, the jounin turned to the Hokage. "Hokage-sama, I would like to request my teams first mission now, if that is alright with you."

Hiruzen arched an eyebrow. "Of course Kakashi-kun. What did you have in mind?"

With an evil chuckle that set his genin on edge, Kakashi responded with a single word, or rather name. "Tora."


End file.
